Nobody wanting to be the first to post a character? Well, here's my submission!
Open to requests to change - if he is considered under or overpowered. I just had fun with the concepts and this is what I got.
Name: Lustran
Age: 34
Race: Human
Gender: Male
Appearance: Narrow faced and cold of expression, Lustran is solidly built yet lythe after many years of living as what can only be described as an outlaw. He has charcoal grey hair which is kept roughly hewn to several inches long, swept back to reveal a face whose expression naturally falls somewhere between a sneer and a snarl.
His eyes are a cold steel-blue, piercing and recessed beneath a prominent brow. His face is slightly gaunt, though this is made more prominent by the surreal hollowness in his expression. Several small scars adorn his face, but none are noteworthy enough to be mentioned specifically.
He wears a brown leather greatcoat, lined with a thin layer of chainmail. The coat is well fitted and of high quality, if very old. It is stitched in many places where the leather has been split or pierced by various means. Beneath this, Lustran wears a fitted doublet of faded black velvet and matching legwear - both of high quality and well cared for, but again somewhat aged. He also wears thick boots and gloves made of rugged leather, with iron accents.
Bio: Cold and disinterested in the affairs of others, to call Lustran the emotional equivalent of a stone wall would be a disservice to walls everywhere. He is a cold hearted outlaw - a mercenary, a wanderer and a brigand through and through, who cares little for anyone beyond using them for his own means. He has no qualms about taking the underhanded route to success and will happily lie, cheat, steal or kill his way to victory. He plays the part of the villain well, as that is what the world has made him.
Intelligent and cunning if not particularly wise, Lustran is more adept at thinking in the moment than planning ahead. He maintains a strong sense of self entitlement and twisted view of justice and retribution. Lustran can be disproportionately cruel with very little motivation.
His history is clouded even to himself - a voluntary move on his part to forget a past he would rather not remember. Now he lives from one day to the next, taking what he can and doing as he wishes.
Other: Lustran has wandered for a long while and performed countless deeds that might be considered far from lawful. He is generally known as a criminal wherever he goes, and has few friends in the lawful world. Having previously ran with a number of bandit groups and less lawful guilds, he does have sone connections in the underworld.
Eldritch Arm: 'Valkyrie' is a colossal crossbow that Lustran carries with him at all times. A hulking contraption that by all accounts more closely resembles a small siege weapon than a man-carried one, Valkyrie fires bolts that are closer to javelins or small spears in size. A weapon such as this would be tremendously cumbersome under most situations, though Lustran wields her with speed, precision and grace beyond that of a normal man.
Valkyrie also bears a large iron spike proturding from her front, which is used as a bayonet should the need arise. She bears a lever system to rapidly reload bolts and generally operate more akin to a much smaller, lighter and simpler weapon.
As an Eldritch Weapon, Valkyrie is not without her faults. She feeds on Lustrans positive emotions - directing his anger, indignation and self righteousness back into him to fuel his coldhearted ways and prolong his hatred-filled life. As a side effect of this, he is also unable to feel grief: as grief requires love to occur in the first place.
This symbiotic relationship was well understood by Lustran when he took Valkyrie for his own - it was a sacrifice he made freely and he has never looked back. She may or may not actually be sentient, but Lustran firmly believes that she is and that by making him immune to the pain of loss, she is doing him the most generous favor of all.
In addition to this, the Valkyrie radiates an addictive aura of reliance and comfort on her owner, which grows stronger over time and can make it difficult to even put her down - never mind let her out of his sight. Lustran is never without Valkyrie as a result - and would kill anyone who attempted to take her taken away from him.
Alternate Form: Valkyrie is a very versatile weapon, and as such does not have an alternate form.
Overbreak Form: When empowered, Valkyrie shines with a golden light and becomes much lighter - able to be moved with pinpoint precision. She assists with aiming and compensates for various factors, even aiming herself if Lustran is otherwise incapable of doing so, and will activly choose targets most dangerous to her wielder.
More prevalently, she fires bolts of Eldritch energy rather than physical projectiles while in this enhanced form - no longer punching through armor so much as ignoring it completely. She does not need ammunition in this state, and is instead fuelled by the raw anger and hatred of her wielder - leaving them cold and completely devoid of any emotion whatsoever: free to focus on pure efficiency in battle.
Unleashed Form: Fully unleashed, Valkyrie becomes Valkyrie Borialis - a fully self aware machine of vengeance which radiates the glow of the Aroura as she hurls bolts of lightning-like Eldritch energy with pinpoint precision. She is capable of guiding her own actions even in the hands of someone who has intentions other than hers, and will do all in her power to fulfill the will of her ward.
Valkyrie Borialis draws not only on the emotion of the wielder in this form, but also their very soul. With each shot, a small fragment of their spirit is sundered and fused with the weapon itself - further empowering the weapon and solidifying the bond between the two, while forming increasingly permanent spiritual wounds that entrench the wielders dependency on the weapon.
Question: I've a character that I made but never got chance to use that I could repurpose quite easily for this, but his backstory is... well it's pretty grim by my standards.
I guess what I'm asking is 'how dark is too dark'?
I saw a mention of a walled city. If that was the case, you could go with the city being put into lockdown after the murder - with the characters being trapped inside.
As for explinations: why were they there anyway? What were they doing? And why do they want to leave so urgently? Sure it's a 'wrong place, wrong time' type explination, but I think it's suitibly wide ranging that it's believable enough.
So! Something I tend to do that folks may or may not do themselves.
As in my last post, if you see a mention followed by a hider, I'm basicly indicating that whatever is there is only relevent to a specific character. Maybe they are perceptive enough to notice something or maybe they are just in the right place at the right time - one way or the other, its information that the rest of the party would not know.
For most things I'll use hiders. For big things that might change the interactions between players I'll likely PM you. If that's not something that you'd be happy with, let me know.
It's just an effort to keep things interesting and let everyone act out their own goals, in the event that they differ from the rest of the group. Maybe you don't want to tell anyone that you caught someone practising Witchcraft for some reason? Well, you don't have to if you don't want to.
On inspecting the great stone wall you noticed something unusual. Somebody had evidently taken great care to make it appear otherwise, but the majority of the stone was actually fresh and new - artificially weatheres by sone means. In places, clean smooth bricks could be discerned between the otherwise worn surface as if placed there as recently as a few days ago.
The woman blinked once - staring back at the giant that looked down at her: seemingly in more ways than one. Elder Blooded weren't typically native to the island and it was doubtful anyone living would have recognised one, even from old stories.
"And a fine morning to you too." She responded in a sharp tone - not quite hostile or unfriendly but distinctly unimpressed with the greeting she had received. There was something else though - it was as if she was straining to maintain an authorotive tone in her voice, almost. "It's good to see that manners are still taught back on the mainland."
She paused staring into the eyes of the giant with her own piercing gaze. The black edges of her coat flickered slightly in the breeze, but otherwise she remained motionless. Even as more of the initiates gathered she did little to initially acknowledge them. After a short pause, she spoke again.
"I am Serina - Senior Member of Aldergards Order of Witch Hunters. I am the 'authority' you seek so urgently and as such I outrank you, initiate." She paused again - more briefly this time - before her stern expression collapsed into one of exhausted relief. She relaxed her stance and stood at ease, eyeing the group with an intrest that she had previously disguised. "It's good to see you here - I was starting to think that the mainland would just continue to ignore us, or worse..."
She shook her head.
"I was the one that gave the order to make contact with the mainland - I was hoping that Witch Hunters would be sent to investigate. There's something I need to speak to you about. Not here though - not now. Theres an inn in the market square called The Jugglers, meet me there at sunset and I'll tell you whatever you need to know."
Glancing around at the faces that were starting to gather around then at a distance with looks of bemused fear, Serina dropped her voice to a conspiring mutter.
"You'll already have orders, I know. This is important though - please at least come and hear me out. Now go, before we draw any more of a crowd."
Reinham hung back from the group and merely watched - albeit with narrowed eyes and a scowl on his face that put him usual bad tempered appearance to shame. It was the apprentices trial and he had vowed to take action only if absolutely necessary, no matter what surprises they should stumble upon.
That said, he wasn't about to let his guard down. This might prove exactly the type of complication that he had been brought along to deal with.